Retaining teachers has been among the most important priorities for school districts throughout the state.To get a better understanding of what can be done to keep high-quality teachers, the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) spent the past few months gathering feedback.

Tennessee students showed improvement in all subject areas on this year’s 2022/2023 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), with more than a 3 percent proficiency rate growth in math and science and English language arts proficiency exceeding pre-pandemic scores.The Tennessee Department of Education released the statewide results Thursday afternoon.

Mentoring program tnAchieves opened its 2024 mentor application with a goal to recruit a total of 9,000 mentors.“In 2024, we're ready to confront challenges created by the pandemic and to create opportunities for students. We can't do this alone, though. Mentors are needed across the state to support and encourage local students as we work to reverse negative enrollment trends. tnAchieves stands ready to serve students, but we can't do it without your help!” wrote tnAchieves on their application page.

The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability (OREA) says the impact COVID-19 has had on children in Tennessee doesn’t end with declining test scores.OREA released an updated report Thursday that found rising chronic absenteeism has been one of the biggest challenges since Tennessee schools re-opened post-lockdown

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced current Jackson County Schools Superintendent Kristy Brown will take over as the department’s new Chief Academic Officer on July 15.

Tennessee has begun its process of accepting applications for $194 million in school safety grants after Gov. Bill Lee signed a $230 million school security bill in early May.The largest portion of the grants are $140 million toward full-time school resource officers at Tennessee schools. The grants will pay up to $75,000 a year for an officer. Local law enforcement agencies are asked to apply for the grants, which will be reviewed by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security on a rolling basis.

This month school districts across the state are continuing a learning strategy that saw success during the pandemic.Summer learning camps played a valuable role in 2021 and in 2022 helping Tennessee students regain ground they lost during virtual learning. Education leaders considered the camps such a success, the Tennessee General Assembly made them permanent with legislation this year.

When Wyatt Bassow and Ava Buxton missed classes one morning this spring to see democracy in action in Tennessee, they witnessed history that they acknowledged probably wouldn’t be fully taught at their high school less than a mile away.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) says it has approved the appeals of more than 81 percent of students who filed one hoping to avoid retention under the new Third-Grade Retention Law.TDOE opened the appeal process May 30 and the department has received appeals from 8,206 students since then. 

The Tennessee Department of Education is encouraging teachers to sign up for literacy training this summer.The department is offering the training through the end of July to help implement new reading strategies within the classroom.

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) filed a legal challenge this week that could delay recently passed teacher raises.The TEA’s lawsuit challenges a provision of the “Teacher Paycheck Protection Act” Governor Lee signed last month.  The legislation is set to raise the minimum teacher salary to $42,000 in July, but the TEA is objecting to a section that also prevents unions like it from deducting dues from teacher paychecks.

A new study by Stanford's Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) found public charter school students in Tennessee are not only making more average progress than their traditional public-school peers, but also outperforming them at greater rates than other southern states.

The vast majority of Hamilton County third-graders who took the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) retake are still not clear to advance to the fourth-grade.

The Tennessee Department of Education announced the nine finalists for the 2023-24 Tennessee Teacher of the Year Award. The department plans to name the four winners in the fall including one teacher from each region of the state and an overall Teacher of the Year.

The leadership transition at the Tennessee Department of Education accelerated this week with the resignations of two high-level officials, including a veteran manager responsible for many of the state’s biggest education programs and initiatives.Deputy Commissioner Eve Carney will step down on June 30, a department spokesperson confirmed Monday.

With only a few days left in third grade, LaQuencher Sanders’ 8-year-old daughter, Kamryn, just wanted to be done with school.She had been in the class of kindergartners who were sent home in March 2020 because of COVID.

State Senator Bill Powers (R-Clarksville) took an unconventional path to politics and the Tennessee General Assembly where he's the Vice-Chairperson of the Senate Education Committee.The sixth generation Montgomery County resident served as former U.S. Senator Howard Baker’s page as a teenager in the 70s but didn’t run for office himself until four decades later.  Baker served two terms as a Clarksville City Councilman before succeeding former State Senator and current Congressman Mark Greene in what is now Senate District 22.

More than half of Tennessee third graders at risk of being held back because of their reading test scores took another test this week to try to advance to fourth grade without summer school or tutoring.The state began offering the retest on Monday. By Friday, 25,304 third graders had submitted a second reading assessment, said Brian Blackley, a spokesman for the state education department.

More than half of Tennessee third graders at risk of being held back because of their reading test scores took another test this week to try to advance to fourth grade without summer school or tutoring.The state began offering the retest on Monday. By Friday, 25,304 third graders had submitted a second reading assessment, said Brian Blackley, a spokesman for the state education department.